Brewster's Story

Dr. Eichkorn's chocolate Labrador "Brewster" was a frequent blood donor over the course of his happy life both through our clinic and through the Canadian Animal Blood Bank (CABB) run through Red River Community College. In case you are not familiar with blood donation for dogs, the blood is collected on a regular basis, stored and distributed across Canada depending on demand for fresh blood products.

On January 21, 2008. Brewster became a blood recipient rather than a donor. A nasty tumour on Brewster's spleen ruptured that day spilling over 2 litres of blood into his belly. His entire spleen had to be removed on an emergency basis. We were able to call the Blood Bank and have blood available within 1 hour which allowed Brewster to survive his emergency surgery. As a previous blood donor, Brewster received the blood he needed at no charge as a 'thank you' from the blood bank. Donors are eligible to receive, should they ever need it, blood equivalent to the amount that they have donated over the years. This is another of the many perks of donation.

Unfortunately for dear Brewster, his cancer had already spread to his lungs and he began to fail within a week of his surgery. Sadly, he was euthanized on January 28, 2008. He will be greatly missed by not only Dr. Eichkorn but all of us here at Winrose.

Dr. Eichkorn is encouraging all her canine patients who fit the criteria for donation to consider participating in this amazing program. The entire donation process takes only about 15-30 minutes every 3 months or so and the warm fuzzies that come from knowing we're saving doggy lives is priceless. Please ask us if your dog qualifies for donation. We are now running blood donor clinics out of our hospital to save having to drive across the city to Red River College to donate.